They sure are! Here is how: Vitamin B1 has been observed to have an influence on behaviour in multiple animal species, including horses. A horse will meet its vitamin B1 requirements via the vitamin B1 it eats in its diet and from vitamin B1 produced by the bacteria in its hindgut.

Equine gastric ulcer syndrome (EGUS) is a major equine health problem worldwide. Multiple studies have reported a 90% incidence rate of ulcers in performance horses.

Ulcers negatively and sometimes severely affect a horse’s ability to perform. They cause pain and discomfort. They may reduce your horse’s appetite which in turn limits their capacity to maintain bodyweight and ulcers can lead to the development of vices like windsucking and crib biting.

You may have heard it recommended that horses with ulcers should be fed a ‘grain-free’, low starch diet. It is believed that any starch may make ulcers worse. Or stop them from healing when the horse is being medicated to resolve ulcers. But is there any scientific basis for what has now become a popular recommendation? Let’s take a look!

Cereal grains such as oats, barley, triticale, corn, rice, rye, sorghum and wheat are commonplace in horse diets. When fed well, cereal grains form a valuable component of many horse’s rations.

But fed improperly, and they will cause large shifts in your horse’s gut microbial population, causing dysbiosis and a host of serious health and behavioural issues. Issues that can be so severe they will end the performance career of your horse and in the worst cases, even lead to death!